Does it ever feel like you’re getting more empathetic with age? I don’t know, maybe it’s just me. But as time goes on I’ve found it harder and harder to be presented with a situation and not try to see it from both sides. And I’m not trying to present that like I’m a good person or a smart person. I think we can all agree I’m not. If anything, I think I’m just a softer person. I don’t want to see things and just think “oh fuck that” or “oh yes that’s absolutely right”. I want to at least attempt to think about where people are coming from and why they might think a certain way or do the things they do… you know what I mean?

What does that have to do with Aaron Hernandez?

Absolutely Nothing.

Fuck that dude.

We talk about “wasted talent” in sports all the time – but the way we talk about it is wrong. Someone like Brandon Roy doing all they can to get on the court but can’t avoid injuries is not a wasted talent. Someone like Todd Marinovich dealing with an overbearing parent to the point that their spirit and love for the game is gone is not a wasted talent. Someone like Greg Oden who was coaxed into playing a sport they never wanted to play in the first place and who didn’t meet the expectations is not a wasted talent. Shit, even someone like Tony Romo who played his ass off but could never get things to go his way on their field is not a wasted talent.

This… this is wasted talent. Aaron Hernandez is an actual waste of talent.

That dude literally threw his career away because he loved killing people. It wasn’t that his body couldn’t take it any more. It wasn’t that his mind couldn’t take it any more. He still loved playing football. He just loved murdering more. He so thoroughly enjoyed killing people that he was willing to risk a sport that he genuinely loved playing. That… that is wasted talent.

There’s no need to see both sides here. We don’t need to have sympathy. We don’t need to talk about “what went wrong” or what we as a society could have done better.

A really shitty human is dead, and that’s it. A shitty human who ruined lives is dead. A shitty human who was willing a ready to kill anyone… anyone from his lifelong friend to a random stranger who accidentally bumped him at a bar… that person is dead.

Let’s not overcomplicate this. Let’s not make this “Well… but…” situation. Aaron Hernandez was sentient garbage who is now just garbage.

P.S. I’m really not joking about everything in the first paragraph. I’ve really been torn this morning about whether or not to take a more serious approach… whether or not to delve into the mental issues and the drug addiction and the culture he was brought up in. And I do really care about all that. But then I thought of some of the other people I’ve done the “Good Morning To Everyone Except…” schtick with, and none of them were homicidal maniacs so I just decided yeah, fuck this dude.